The broadcaster has long been expected to offload the cinema advertising operation, as part of a disposal of companies worth £500m in total, as it seeks to streamline its business.
However, the recent performance of the company – including a crushing contract win over its one major rival Pearl & Dean – has prompted a change of mind by ITV chiefs, who have announced that the broadcaster no longer plans to sell the company, for the time being at least.
Henry Staunton, ITV finance director, said the broadcaster had considered the merits of its ownership of CSA and the future of ITV's joint venture with Thomson Media, Screen Vision, which is a powerhouse in US and European cinema.
"We have completed reviews of CSA and Screen Vision," he said. "We have grown the CSA contract base and believe that our joint venture in the US can deliver real growth, which we'll exploit for the benefit of our shareholders."
The reality is that CSA looked a dead cert to be sold, probably to Thomson, until the recent win of the Cineworld contract, due to come into force at the beginning of next year.
The victory over Pearl & Dean will give Carlton an 80% share of cinema advertising in the UK and is thought to have considerably boosted its value above previous estimates of about £66m.
Although insisting that its sale of non-core assets was never meant to be a "fire sale", an ITV spokesman admitted: "Once CSA had that contract win over Pearl & Dean a few weeks ago, it suddenly looked a lot more robust and we though, yeah, we'll keep hold of it for now."
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